Honor to the End
by StoryMakerr014
Summary: Autobots, Decepticons, humans. It does not matter, for they are all bound by honor, one way or another. And as Cade Yeager will soon learn, being a knight is never easy... especially if your mission requires a trip around the world to awaken an order of Knights and find an ancient relic capable of destroying or reviving a planet. My take on The Last Knight.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: Megatronus' Warning

 _It is finally over._

So thought Alpha Trion as he stood in the middle of a wasteland, once a verdant field but now transformed into a barren plain of endless sand, staring at the countless inactive forms around him. Decepticons, Predacons, ordinary Cybertronians, he could no longer distinguish members of each faction from one another. The mountain of metal limbs and bodies all piled around him prevented any way of identifying each individual, much less who they served and what group they belonged. The battlefield was carnage incarnate, and he felt his spark ache at how many of these had died by his own hands.

But they had no choice. Megatronus had amassed a large following in such a short amount of time, and they had to act decisively or else the sacrifices they had made would be for nothing. In retrospect, he had already expected this kind of scenario. His fallen brother always had a way with words; cunning, manipulative, everything he would say often had impact to the listeners, which was why Solus had admired him, at least before she realized his true colors. He could twist anyone to do his bidding with nary but a sweet whisper, and that skill of his had led to many Cybertronians worshipping him.

He looked up at the massive structure looming over the land. Alpha Trion could not believe that his brother would actually plan to do it, that he would sacrifice a planet filled with life just to gather Energon. And of all the worlds out there, he had to choose this _one_. He was surprised that his traitorous brother could even set foot upon its soil; his spark should have already been snuffed out the moment he entered the atmosphere. But perhaps it was primarily because Gaea had remained slumbering for too long to sense any malicious beings entering her domain.

There was something that was bothering him, though. It was what Megatronus had said before they sealed him away in his Sarchophagus. It was still fresh in Alpha Trion's memory, and he could not forget the look of smugness and arrogance in his brother's face when he uttered, " _You may defeat me, and you could seal me in a coffin forever, but you will never be able to destroy_ him _! Darkness and chaos cannot and will never be defeated! Someday_ he _shall return to consume every thing!"_

He thought he knew what, or rather who, Megatronus was talking about. But he did not want to entertain the idea. Besides, it had been an eternity since then. Prima made sure that _he_ could never reform again; they had all made sure of that. Therefore, what his brother had said was probably his final attempt to terrify them.

With a sigh, he turned away and looked to the east as he sensed several presences approaching. Thirteen dark specks on the sky resolved themselves into massive flying creatures made of metal, their techno-organic wings carrying them toward him with great speed. On the ground, six dark masses lumbered. Five of the larger ones walked in slow but huge and powerful strides, while their little companion followed his brethren with quick steps. They kept pace with their airborne comrades despite their speed, and together made their way onto Alpha Trion's position.

Soon, they arrived. Alpha Trion watched as the flyers swooped down. Twelve possessed lithe serpentine bodies with massive wings and barbed or spiky tails—some on two legs, others on four—while taking the lead was a larger two-headed creature with a long crest protruding from each head. It uttered a piercing cry as they landed a few ways ahead, and soon the creatures transformed. Thirteen armored mechs rose, each as magnificent and majestic as the others, then waited for their remaining comrades. The ground shook as the largest one and the leader of the six—a two-legged horned creature with massive jaws meant for crushing—strode forward until it stopped in front of Alpha Trion and with a shudder, his metal body twisted and shifted to form a gargantuan mech standing tall and proud.

"Grimlock," greeted Alpha Trion. "I trust the mission is successful?"

The air seemed to vibrate as the mech answered in a rumbling voice, "It is. We have gathered all the relics."

The Prime nodded. "What of the King?"

Grimlock gestured to a tall mech behind him, who bowed deeply. "With Cyclonus' help, I dealt the final blow," he said with obvious pride. "The Dragon King is no more."

Alpha Trion closed his eyes and visibly relaxed. At last, one of their greatest foe was vanquished. They had been horrified to learn that he had allied with Megatronus along with most of his kin. When Prima began the assault, they had a hard time breaching the defenses because of the numerous Predacons and their leader providing air support. But now that he was gone and his race all but extinct, a huge thorn to their side had been finally removed.

"And the survivors?"

"We made sure there are none," another mech supplied.

Alpha Trion nodded, pleased. He opened his eyes and said, "Well done, Knights of Cybertron. Well done indeed. You've rid us of a terrible enemy."

Silence passed. Alpha Trion began to worry about his brothers and sisters. Their task should have not taken more than an hour, and yet they were still not here. What could have possibly happened? Megatronus would still be weak, so there's no way that he could have escaped.

After what seemed like hours, but in truth it was only minutes, swirling portal appeared and the last three Primes stepped out with solemn expressions. The Knights immediately bowed. However, upon seeing the lead Prime carrying a limp body in his arms, they kneeled reverently while Grimlock uttered a mournful groan.

"Sorry we are late," said Vector Prime as he laid the body to Alpha Trion's feet. "It took us so long to find him because he was buried under a mountain of Megatronus' minions."

"I understand, Vector," Alpha Trion nodded and gaze down at their fallen brother with a sad smile. "He was always the bravest of us, wasn't he?"

"Always," murmured Grimlock. "I still remember the first time we'd met. He had not shown any fear at all."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at the lifeess body in grief. The mech's silver armor still looked whole, and if another was to see him now, they would think he was just in stasis. But if they inspected him closer, they would notice a hole in his chest where he had been impaled by Megatronus' staff.

No, not Megatronus. Why was he even refering to his brother by that name? He was now The Fallen. "Did you see the Vault?" asked Alpha Trion.

It was Alchemist who answered. "We helped Grimlock find the ship just after we finished with the sealing," he waved a fiery hand toward the Knight. Then he scowled and said, "He really did a number on that ship. It was almost unrecognizable when we found it."

"He must have thought we would assume that the relics are destroyed if we find it," suggested Vector Prime.

Alpha Trion nodded. "Deception has always been one of his greatest weapons. Fortunately, we know that the relics cannot easily be destroyed save by our most powerful weapon." He frowned. "Speaking of which, where is the Sword?"

They all looked at each other, then Vector glanced at the sole femme in their group: Solus Prime. With deliberate slowness, she grasped a hilt protruding from her back, drawing a magnificent white sword forged from an unknown material. Even in daylight, the blade shone like a miniature star, bright and dazzling.

"We found it in our brother's hand when we arrived," her optics briefly darted toward the body at Alpha Trion's feet. "Prima must have given it to him when he fell." She handed the sword to Alpha Trion. He took the sword and ran his gaze along its length. The grip was too large for him, but it immediately reconfigured itself to fit into his hand.

"Star Saber," he murmured. "Majestic, isn't it? The sword that Prima used to destroy our greatest enemy. To think that it would be used again to defeat our own brother. Fate is indeed cruel… what is it, sister?" Alpha Trion suddenly noticed her conflicted expression.

"Brother, I… It's just… Do you think what he said is true?" There was a slight tremble in her voice. "Is he really trying to revive _him_?"

"That's absurd, sister," said Alchemist with a grunt. "We all know that—" He was abruptly interrupted when Alpha Trion spoke.

"The Fallen needed Energon, correct?" he said, drawing their gaze.

Alchemist blinked. "Yes... and?"

In a soft voice, Alpha Trion answered, "Brother, we have enough Energon to power both the All Spark and Cybertron for another 500,000 years. He did not _need_ to harvest Energon at all."

Silence descended upon them as the implication of what he said begin to sink. Behind Alpha Trion, the Knights murmured among themselves, disturbed by that statement. His siblings exchanged worried glances, then Alchemist slowly turned his gaze up at the towering ziggurat that stood above them.

"So you're saying…" his voice trailed off. He obviously did not want to finish the sentence, as if doing so would confirm their worst fear.

"That it is all my conjecture," said Alpha Trion. "We cannot know for sure. And hopefully, we never woud have to."

"Even if you are correct, it still doesn't make any sense. He would need the Chrysallis to do that," Vector pointed out. "And we already sent it to the deepest part of the universe."

"One of our gravest mistake," said Alpha Trion.

"What do you mean?"

With a sigh, the Prime closed his optics. "Vector, you of all people should know what I mean. The Chrysallis is merely a container, but the content is still pretty much active." He opened his optics to see them staring at him with horrified expressions. "If the will is strong, then so will be the influence. And if the mind is weak, it could be decieved… even corrupted."

"Which means..."

Alpha Trion nodded grimly. "It is likely the reason for our brother's betrayal. If that is the case, it is also likely that _he_ has already ensnared other races to do his bidding, perhaps even command them to search for him."

At this, Vector started. "Then we must not waste any time! We have to look for the Chrysallis and make sure no one finds it first except us! I'll see if I can—"

"Calm down, Vector." Alpha Trion placed a hand on his brother's right shoulder. "Your agitation would not help solve our predicament."

"But we can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"And we won't." Alpha Trion held him with his gaze. "Believe me, brother. We won't." He stepped back and straightened himself, then said in a powerful voice, "Knights of Cybertron, I have a mission for all of you."

As one, the Knights stood in attention and saluted. "We hear you, great one," rumbled Grimlock.

"Dragonicus, come over here," Alpha Trion called. A tall Knight in crimson armor complied and stood behind him then bowed. Turning around, he held the Star Saber to him hilt-first. "Take this. You will need it along the with the other relics."

The Knight stared at him in confusion. "My lord?"

"The Apprentices must stay here. All of them." There were a lot of shocked expressions at what he said, so he added, "This must be done."

"But why?" asked Vector. "Alpha Trion, the Apprentices are needed in Cybertron! They can't—"

"If they don't, then this planet is doomed as well as the entire universe." When all he received were blank stares, he continued, "The Matrix of Leadership lies here, Vector. As well as the Sun Harvester. If someone, anyone at all, with the same intention as The Fallen manage to locate them, then our sacrifices are for nothing."

"But why all of the Apprentices?"

"Because Dragonstorm will be needed to defend the Omega Lock while the rest will guard the Trinity Arsenals and the Omega Keys."

Vector stared at him in disbelief. "Wait! You're going to place a Lock here on this planet? Have you taken leave of your senses, brother? Gaea would not sit idly while we build something capable of destroying her planet right in her own soil!"

"It's been eons since she has last awaken," said Alpha Trion. "I doubt if she would even sense it."

"But why build an Omega Lock? We only use those in case a planet… our planet… is destroyed…" Realization suddenly hit him, and his optics widened. "It can't be!"

His expression solemn, Alpha Trion nodded. "The Quill has written another revelation," he murmured sadly.

"What is it?" Vector demanded. "Brother, what did you see?"

"Darkness," he stared into the sky and answered. "A great darkness that would consume our planet's light. And at the end of it, destruction. But I have seen hope. A brighter future which lies on this world… and its inhabitants. This is why it is imperative that this planet is kept safe."

Nobody spoke. They all knew that the Quill only wrote two things: truth and the future. Everything that had happened to them, every major events that had shaped their race in its entirety, all of those were long foretold by the Quill. Thus, if it said that Cybertron would be destroyed, then there was nothing more they could do, nor could they argue its validity.

Vector swayed on his feet, his strength seemingly depleted. In trembling voice, he said, "But still—"

"Brother, that's enough." It was Solus who spoke. "Alpha Trion is right. If someone finds the Matrix and activate the Sun Harvester, then whether or not Cybertron is destroyed doesn't matter. But if we keep the Omega Lock and our greatest weapons safe, we would still have a chance."

"Besides, if we leave the Apprentices here, they could defend the Tomb and prevent anyone from finding it," Alchemist added. "It's a good plan."

For a moment, Vector was conflicted. Alpha Trion could understand his concern; even he was not totally invested in his own plan. But they had no choice. It was their only chance. Moreover, what he did not tell them was the great battle he had foreseen long ago. A battle that would occur on this planet, and which would be pivotal in the universe's survival. However, many would die—including them and most of the Knights. And that terrifying knowlede was not something he could readily impart to his siblings. It would certainly break them.

Finally, Vector nodded. "So be it. All this time your counsel has led us to the right path. If you think this is our only option, I have to agree."

"So do I," Solus agreed.

"And I," rumbled Alchemist.

"Thank you, my brethren." Alpha Trion smiled gratefully, then turned to Dragonicus. Still holding the Star Saber, he said, "Now do you understand, brave knight? You and your brothers must do this or else we will lose everything."

In response, Dragonicus took the sword without hesitation and held it in front of him. "My lord, I do." He stepped back and joined the other eleven, then said, "We will obey your command and defend the relics with our lives. This we swear on our honor."

"What of us?" asked Grimlock.

Alpha Trion looked at him. "I have a mission for the seven Grandmasters as well," he said. "Once you are done here, take the Sanctuary and search for the Chrysallis just as Vector said." The aforementioned Prime was startled to hear this. "If you find it, send us a message as soon as possible." He paused. "This mission is vital, Grimlock. The most vital of all. If you succeed, then there might still be hope."

The Knight Grandmaster nodded. "We will succeed, Great One," he vowed.

"Thank you, Grimlock. We truly haven't made a mistake when we chose you to lead the Grandmasters. Now, there's one more thing left for us to do." He looked down sadly at his dead brother, then kneeled down and touched the gaping hole in his chest.

"If only we have arrived sooner, we could still have saved you," Alpha Trion brushed his fingers against the armor. "But alas, fate has once again intervened." He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Solus.

"He never would want to see you grieving," she said in a gentle voice. "Our brother died to save us. We should honor him not with sadness, but with joy now that he is one with the All Spark."

"I know, sister." He lowered his gaze, then he slowly smiled. "But that doesn't mean we cannot do anything. His spark is still intact." Raising his hand, Alpha Trion transformed it into a four-pronged claw, stabbed it deep to his brother's chest, and wrenched away a bright crimson orb that glowed with a dull light. He stood up and held the spark like he would a fragile hatchling.

Then he murmured, "Let's go home... Orion."

* * *

 **Welcome, dear readers, old and new, to the first chapter of my** _Transformers 5: Faces of Darkness_ **rebooted version.**

 **Let me just clarify a few things. To be precise, this is NOT a total reboot. It is still primarily based on my previous version of TF5, but with a lot of story elements from The Last Knight film incorporated. Which is, strangely enough, fits rather well if the above first chapter is anything to judge by.**

 **As for why I decided to do this... well, let's just say that I'm not entirely satisfied with the story of the film. Not to say I had high expectations, but I had expected something more than I got. With that said, the premise itself was interesting, which is why I want to merge it with my own story to create what I wish is a good take on The Last Knight.**

 **Moving on, this won't be a total rehash of the movie. Some scenes will be adapted, but many will be original. Many of the original human characters seen on the movie will not appear, and the Autobot and Decepticon roster will remain largely the same from the previous story. But expect quite a few new and old faces to show up. :)**

 **On a side note, my main priority right now is my novel which I'm planning to publish by December, or if not then on January. So update will be slow. But since I'm writing this simultaneously with the novel, I think I can make a monthly update. No promises, though.**

 **Well, anyway that's it. This one is just the prologue; naturally it would be short. But the next one will be longer. 100% guaranteed. So please Read & Review!**

 **Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

Colonel William Lennox peered through the scope of his assault rifle, taking in every little detail he could see of their targets and memorizing them, from mannerisms down to personal insignias and tattoos. Fighting hostile Transformers had always been a pain in the ass; they could switch disguises faster than you could say "Transform!", and you would not even notice it was them until they were literally standing before you.

He still remembered the first time he had encountered a Decepticon. Back then, it was terrifying to fight one; the aliens were still a mystery, and most weapons did barely any damage to their armor until it was discovered that high-heat sabot rounds would do the trick with extremely satisfying results. Not to mention, they possessed weaponry that could kill an entire platoon in a single shot, which made operations against them highly fatal with a survival chance of 13%.

But that was all in the past. Now, hunting them had become a chore. Their weapons could finally destroy them with ease. And the walkers, though unreliable, slow, and prone to getting wrecked within the first few minutes, served as good bait while ground troops go in for the kill. Twelve years of experience had taught him that even someone as strong as Megatron could be vulnerable against focused fire.

Then again, they had always had a Prime to help them.

Lennox grimaced as memories flashed unbidden in his mind of a time when every thing was still peaceful and in order. A time when he would hitch a ride to a certain black GMC Topkick to their base in the National Health Institute because his motorcycle was in the repair shop, or when he would ask their grumpy medic for a prescription because he had acquired a cold and the resident doctor was being an asshole for telling him to simply drink water when his throat was sore as hell and he needed the medicine badly before they go to a mission the next day.

Their lives were perfect then. Dangerous, yes. And definitely weird on some days. But they were happy coexisting and fighting together. Then Chicago happened, the UN became assholes, and the alliance with the Autobots was broken and N.E.S.T. was disbanded. The last time he had seen Optimus, he and his team were bidding farewell before they relocate to the Grand Canyon. He went back to his home afterwards, and spent the next five years in early retirement with his family. He had not heard anything of the Autobots during those years.

Then Hong Kong was attacked, and he learned what had happened.

He immediately pushed those thoughts away. He was on a mission, and he did not need the distraction. Now he was the leader of a multi-national paramilitary group dedicated to hunting down hostile alien threats; he had orders to follow. But in the deepest recess of his mind, he could still feel the lingering guilt and disgust he had when he saw that footage of Leadfoot being gunned down. A little part of him died that time.

He must have spaced out because he felt a tap on his shoulder and someone said, "Sir? Are you okay?"

Lennox looked at the soldier. He could not be more than ten years younger than him, but he had been fighting Transformers for over half a decade.

Lennox blinked, then shook his head. "Yes, yes. I'm fine." He took a deep breath and focused on the mission once more. In a professional voice, he spoke to his earpiece quietly, "Alright team. We got four confirmed targets. Decepticons. Highly dangerous. Engage on my signal."

Off to one side, one of his team members snickered. "Decepticons? Why are we even referring to them by faction names? They are all the same."

Lennox did not know what prompted him to retort, "The same? No, they are not the same. One would see you as nothing more than an insect and crush you like a bug, the other would treat you as a friend and give you a ride back home if you ask nicely. If you still think and say that's both the same thing, consider yourself on probation. Am I clear?"

"I..."

"Am I clear?" Lennox emphasized it with an intense glare that made the soldier shrank back. He knew he would be reprimanded again if he kept saying his opinion and reveal his misgivings about their missions, but he could not resist. Unlike his previous N.E.S.T. team, the Transformers Reaction Force, or TRF, mostly comprised of former Cemetery Wind members. They did not had the chance to interact peacefully with the Autobots, and many of them had families who died in Chicago. Naturally, the hatred was to be expected. But even so, he would not tolerate misinformation within his group.

"Yes, sir." With a grumble, the soldier turned away.

Satisfied, Lennox was about to return his attention to their targets when his earpiece suddenly crackled to life, and he scowled as a voice spoke: "Don't mind him, Jake. Lennox has always been a fan of the Transformers ever since they saved he and his teams' asses back in Mission City. You know how fanboys usually are."

"Shut it, Santos, and just do your damn job," growled Lennox. He never did liked his field commander, and he knew the feeling was mutual. Their opinions on practically every thing, from mission strategies to Transformers to politics and even football, were just too different that they could not see eye to eye.

"Just to inform you, sir, I already did," he said dryly. "You're the one who's busy watching our targets for the past ten minutes without saying anything. Now which one of us is not doing his job?"

Lennox bit back a retort he knew was coming and simply said, "Just be ready when I give my signal." With that he focused his attention on the building in front of him and waited.

The abandoned warehouse was large and decaying, with many holes on the roof and part of the east wall blasted off, probably in a battle. Boxes and scrap metal filled the inside, but there was still enough space to hold the four Decepticons hiding within. From his vantage position on a vacant building fifty yards north, he could see them milling about or sitting bored on the tiled floor.

He looked at the largest of them: Motormaster. He was big, ugly, and looked like a brute. His vehicle mode, based on latest records that would probably be revised later if this mission ended in failure, was a black Kenworth truck he had apparently scanned from a car dealer shop, which was later destroyed by his crew. Accounted for multiple—no, scratch that—more than a dozen cases of vehicular homicide, he was part of the top ten Wanted Transformers list in the TRF. From the reports of traumatized eyewitnesses, he had a habit of ramming civilian vehicles for no reason.

The next one on the list was Drag Strip who sat with a bored expression. An underground racer who used a Koeniggsegg Agera Final as his vehicle mode, he was often hired by syndicates to win a race for them, which he always did... by cheating. All clients were then cheated too out of their winnings, and he would run away with loads of cash. Naturally, he had bank accounts: twenty of them.

The third target amused himself by bending steel pipes like they were pick up sticks. Wild Rider, wanted for over a hundred vehicular homicides and a Decepticon who often did crazy stunts that always broke the law of physics and gravity, he was a true psychopath who transformed into a Ferrari 488 GT3 and was feared even by his team mates for his unstable behavior. He was also a speedster whom no one had caught before, something Lennox was planning to change soon.

And last but not least, Dead End. Unlike the others, he was only wanted for a single crime: double murder. But he possessed the most peculiar case out of them; apparently, a mother and child had been trapped inside their burning house and Dead End arrived to save them. Unfortunately, they had both received third degree burns, so Dead End did the only thing he could think of at that moment: he killed them. His words when the police caught him in the act? Based on the files Lennox had been given, it was along the lines of, "They are going to die anyway. So why bother saving them?"

When he had finished reading the reports, Lennox came into the conclusion that most Decepticons had problems on the head, and the only sane ones were the Autobots, albeit with trigger-happy tendencies.

Four Decepticons, half of which were unstable. Stunticons, they called themselves. Only Dead End was arrested before, but he had escaped. The others had been operating in southern US for the past six months, conducting theft and homicides. Many times they had eluded TRF's traps and ambushes. But not today; this time, they had a shoot to kill order.

For once, Lennox would be more than happy to oblige.

He checked the position of his strike teams team one last time on the wrist computer he wore on his right hand, which displayed a map. Four groups in all; one led by him, a second under the direct command of Santos which also possessed control of the drones and walkers, a third team near the entrance of the warehouse, and a fourth on the opposite side. He they dared not bring more than what was necessary; if Megatron was lurking around, he did not want the Decepticon leader to kill more of his men.

When he was sure that every thing and everyone was in place, he spoke to his earpiece, "All units prepare to engage on my mark. Three, two, on—"

Lennox was cut off when a police siren blared throughout the vicinity. It came from a hundred yards to the left, and he quickly issued a hold fire order. Checking in that direction with his scope, he swore after identifying the source of that siren.

It was a 2017 Ford Mustang police cruiser. Sleek and freshly painted in dark blue and white, it picked its way between the tight alleys, driving in a leisure pace. The car passed their location, and Lennox risked a glance to check its windows. It was heavily tinted, but that just confirmed his suspicion along with a single phrase in white letters etched on the side of the trunk.

To punish and enslave.

"Eyes and ears alert," he muttered to the comms, "Decepticon Barricade is on site."

Ever since the Battle of Chicago, they had been trying to hunt down the rogue enforcer. Barricade was one of the few who managed to survive, and it had been a top priority to have him captured; he was the only remaining high-ranking Decepticon officer at that time, and they could not risk him forming an army. Unfortunately, every time they try to ambush him, he would always get away. Not even Cemetery Wind was able to track him down in the following years, and he soon disappeared off their radar along with several of his lackeys.

When Cuba had declared that all Transformers were welcomed in their country, only then did they realized that Barricade hid there. By that time, they had more important matters to attend to as Transformer activity had started increasing, and they just let Barricade roam around, left to his devices. They did kept him under heavy surveillance in the event that he tried something, and for a time, he was rarely a nuisance. But when Megatron was reborn two years ago and rendezvous with him, they kept a close watch on the police cruiser. He had been mostly silent since until now.

Barricade arrived at the warehouse's entrance and quickly transformed. At once, the Stunticons rose to their feet and looked toward him. Motormaster stopped pacing around and approached Barricade until he towered over him, growling. He was more than twice his height, but the enforcer did not seemed intimidated. He simply stared up with bright red eyes.

CIA had placed a tracker on Barricade complete with a voice recorder. Either by some sort of miracle or the Decepticon never cared much about being spied on that he did not take notice, the tracker had never been removed. It helped them eavesdrop on his conversations with Megatron, and it was once again proving to be useful in a situation like this.

"You're late," growled Motormaster. He squatted in an attempt to get his eyes in level with the enforcer's. But despite this, they were still a few feet higher than Barricade's due to Motormaster's size.

"I have to scout the area first before coming here," Barricade said simply. "This part of Detroit is always under close surveillance by TRF. I can never be too sure."

That unnerved Lennox for some reason. If Barricade knew they were watching them, why did not he inform Motormaster?

"You mean you're a coward," Motormaster chuckled. In a more serious tone, he said, "We already got what Lord Megatron asked."

"Show me."

Motormaster's chest slid open, and he took several odd things and dumped them at Barricade's feet. The Decepticon mostly blocked the view, but between a gap in one of his legs, Lennox caught a glimpse of what looked like books. With a frown, he continued listening to the conversation.

"Is this all of it?" asked Barricade as he picked up a particularly large book. It was almost the size of a church Bible.

Motormaster scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You could have us attack every library in this ugly country, but we'll never be able to steal all those books. Humans print them as fast they breed. Tell Lord Megatron that he can try, though, if he wants to." If Barricade was annoyed by that comment, he did not show it.

Lennox's frown deepened, and something in his memory clicked. Just a week ago, they had received reports that a library was robbed by Decepticons. When they had arrived, the building was already burning and all the guards were dead. A quick inventory told them that at least a hundred books were taken, and it seemed they had just found them. To him, it sounded strange that Decpticons would want to steal books. As far as he knew, they were not interested in anything but death and carnage.

"Fine. This will do," Barricade said at last, which brought Lennox back to focusing on the mission as the Decepticon began to stuff the books inside a compartment on his waist.

Whatever Megatron wanted, they would soon find out. Deciding that this was the perfect time to begin the operation, Lennox muttered a single sentence in his earpiece: "Open fire."

At once, the TRF broke out of hiding and stormed the warehouse. From his vantage point, Lennox saw that Barricade did not seemed surprised, and he quickly realized that the enforcer did knew the TRF was there, but did not purposely told Motormaster; he had been planning all along to make them decoys.

His suspicion was confirmed when Barricade quickly rolled out of a barrage of rocket fire and pushed Motormaster in its path, then transformed and drove through a weak section of the northern wall with maximum speed. "TRAITOR! You tricked us!" roared the Stunticon leader even as he was engulfed in a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared, he was kneeling on the ground oozing Energon in various holes in his body, but still very much alive and pissed.

With another roar, he stood up and turned his arms into large cannons and started blasting the assault teams. Behind him, the rest of his team pulled out blasters and cannons, shooting wildly s they retreated. Soon, the warehouse was wrecked and a hole had been blasted through the ceiling. On the ground, a dozen TRF soldiers lay dead.

"Santos, send a drone after Barricade. I want the rest giving us air support here. These guys are giving our boys one hell of a time." As Lennox watched, he saw Drag Strip transformed and shot past Motormaster followed closely by Dead End. The soldiers dodged out of the way as the two Stunticons tore beyond them, escaping through a wide alley 200 yards to the east.

"Trackers!" Lennox quickly shouted. Several snipers posted in various locations sent confirmations, and very soon they heard the familiar beeping noises of two tagged targets. Lennox ignored them for now and concentrated on the battle below. Overhead, he heard the sound of a fleet of attack drones approaching.

Motormaster also noticed it. Cursing in Cybertronian, he dove out of firing range and transformed. Wild Rider had already ran away a minute ago, leaving his leader to his fate. It disgusted Lennox that Decepticons could do this to their companions without even the slightest hint of remorse, which only proved how the Autobots were leagues better than them; he never saw any of them, especially Ironhide, leave a wounded soldier behind, human or Transformer.

By the time the drones had arrived, Motormaster had already escaped, driving through the buildings' walls without stopping. Arriving at the road on the other side, he rammed a walker in its legs and toppled it, then continued gunning his engines until he was finally out of their sight.

Lennox swore and began assessing the damages and casualties. Out of a hundred TRF soldiers, 22 were dead and another two dozen were critically wounded. Their targets had escaped, again, and Barricade was off to report to his master. A walker suffered minor damage, which was something to be thankful for; Joshua Joyce once chewed him out for losing twenty walkers that costed billions of dollars and took six months to construct. But despite this, he could not call the mission a success.

It was another failure, and nothing could change that.

With a sigh, he spoke to his earpiece. "TRF, stand fast. The mission is over. I want medics on site immediately." Then he tore off the earpiece in frustration and marched down toward the warehouse together with his team.

There he found his team tending to the wounded and investigating the area for anything left by the Decepticons. It was not a permanent hideout per se, but there were signs that they had stayed here on more than one occasion; bent steel rods they had used to amuse themselves, makeshift bunk beds, a crate filled with empty oil barrels, and what looked an ammunition box.

Santos was also there and already waiting. Lennox scowled as the commander approached with a disapproving glare, resisting the urge to punch the man until he knocked out a few teeth. It was always like this; whenever a mission ended in failure, Santos would act as if he could have done a better job. Lennox did not doubt that, of course. However, he never trusted the man to show compassion at all if their target turned out to be a mere refugee; to Santos, all of them were his enemies.

They stood facing each other, ignoring the stares of their subordinates. Lennox was a few inches taller, but that did not deter Santos from glaring at him and speaking first. "That's five in a row now, sir. And here I thought you are a veteran when it comes to hunting them. I guess retirement has dulled your skills."

Lennox's right eyebrow twitched, but he kept his temper in check. It would not do for him to lose composure right in front of his men. "Failure is always to be expected in any mission, especially in cases like this one. But just because we failed a lot doesn't mean we will fail all the time. We just have to do better next time." In a lower voice that only the two of them could hear, he muttered, "I have done this for almost a decade now, asshole. That does not even count my tours in the Middle East where I spent seven years fighting Al Qaeda terrorists. So don't act as if you already know and have seen every thing, you piece of shit."

With that, Lennox left him with nostrils flaring in anger and made his way to a scorched spot on the cement floor where soldiers were inspecting something. He doubt if Santos would do anything drastic in response to what he just said. He did not get provoked easily despite the fact that he liked doing the same thing, and Lennox was certain that Santos knew both of their boundaries as much as he did.

As he approached the soldiers, he noticed upon closer look that they were checking several books, some of which were burned. Barricade must have left it behind when they attacked, choosing to prioritize his hide rather than fulfilling Megatron's order to the letter. Curious as to what could the Decepticon leader wanted this time, he picked one that was a little less damaged in the firefight.

He frowned as he flipped the pages and browsed the contents. He was never much of a bookworm, but he recognized this as a genealogy book, a historical record of various families around the world. It was mostly common in Asia and Europe because of their history, though US also had records of their own. This one, from the looks of it, was European in nature. What it was doing in an American library, he had no idea.

The names were in alphabetical order, and by the time he reached the last pages, he found nothing that would interest Megatron. At least, to him anyway. But just before he closed it in disappointment, his eyes fell on two distinct and familiar names that made his heart suddenly raced.

One was Witwicky, and he immediately thought of Sam. But that was expected of Megatron who had been killed once by him. However, he had not heard of him since the alliance with the Autobots was dissolved, so there should be no reason for the Decepticons to become interested in him again except perhaps for revenge, which was highly likely.

The second name, though. He was very familiar with it; in fact, the entire TRF was. But the fact that it was here, on a European genealogy book, confused him. And the more he thought about it, the more he got baffled.

The name was Yeager.

* * *

 **As I promise, here is the second chapter. :)**

 **Regarding this chapter and Lennox's interaction with Santos, I was partly inspired by Alex of the Youtube channel Ragin Nation and his review about TLK. He mentioned that there was little to no tension between the two, which I strongly agree, and how he would have wanted them to come into blows. So I decided to incorporate that in my story. Here, as you've already seen in this chapter, there's more interaction between them, more tension. And I'm planning to make that worse as the story progress. Personally, I thought of Santos as an anti-hero and expected him to have some sort of role in the movie. Instead, we got a really bland character with no purpose whatsoever other than to be just there. And I'm going to change that big time.**

 **I also forgot to mention in my previous post, but there is another reason I rebooted the story. To put it simply, I'm planning to create a _massive_ fanfic universe. No, not what Paramount wants to do with the franchise. What I mean is a shared universe. Think MCU or DCEU, but MUCH, MUCH bigger with dozens of franchises involved. And yes, I know it sounds weird and does not seem like it would fit with Transformers. But I really have these interesting ideas and plot bunnies that I want to turn into a story.**

 **Unfortunately, I can't get into details without spoiling anything. However, if you have read the prologue thoroughly, you'll find that one particular franchise has already been referenced. Rest assured, though. This story is and will be STANDALONE. So there will be no major crossovers happening at this point. There are going to be minor references, but that's it.**

 **One last thing. Optimus won't be appearing here, and neither will Quintessa. This story is grounded on Earth ALONE. So don't expect to see them here. They will, however, appear in the SEQUEL along with characters many ofyou may be familiar with, but you will have to wait until this one is finished.**

 **With that said, thank you for reading and please review!**

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

The Chicago skyline rose ahead, the jagged tops of its once mighty towers and skycrapers piercing the sky like skeletal fingers. Years of constant aerial bombardment and urban fighting had reduced the city to ruins, and what was once a center of commerce had become an abandoned and decaying husk of a settlement.

It was here that Cade Yeager found himself driving along the war torn streets. The city was labeled a Quarantined No-Go Zone by the Transformers Reaction Force, so no civilians should be here, much less a fugitive like him. But they needed supplies and wares to sell, and there was no better place to get it than here; scavengers like Daytrader were known to wander around here ocassionally looking for something that could be salvaged, and if they could encounter one, it would save a lot of time and money. Not to mention, the city was virtually a treasure trove for inventors like him what with the amount of damaged machinery and electronics just lying around.

Of course, TRF walkers often patrolled the area while several Energon detectors lay scattered throughout the vicinity, so it was almost next to impossible to navigate through the city without being caught or killed. But that was why he was escorted by not just one, but three Autobots, one of which was so heavily armed that he could take on an entire army by himself.

As he parked his modified jeep on a secluded corner and climbed out of it, he glanced toward his other companion with a frown. He would not have taken her, really; coming here was dangerous for someone as young as her, and and he did not need the distraction of watching over her as well. But she was insistent, and she kept pestering him to allow her to come.

Besides, Izabella had proven herself one too many times, and the girl was responsible and talented enough to have survived for almost a decade with nobody but a damaged diminutive Transformer and another much larger one who managed to survive Cybertron's civil war despite the fact that he had little to no combat experience.

Cade slung a backpack over his shoulder, then said, "You know the drill. Find whatever useful thing you can find, throw the ones that are useless, then get back here—"

"—within the hour and wait for us. If we do not come back, return to base and alert the team. Yeah, yeah, I remember." Izabella rolled her eyes. "Honestly, how many times you've already told this to me?"

"A dozen times,' Cade said. "But that's because you keep forgeting the last part."

"Which is?"

"Run." And she visibly flinched at his glare. "If anyone sees you, run. You don't look back. You don't stop. You just keep on running."

"Run," she repeated and started to walk away passing Bumblebee and Hound in their robot form. As she stopped beside a dump truck that slowly transformed into a hulking Cybertronian, she glanced back over her shoulder and said, "You know, I wonder how long you'll keep saying that before you realize there's no more place to run."

Cade sighed and rubbed his temples. "We've already talked about this before, Izzy. Now get going before I have Bee haul you back to base."

"Right." Shaking her head, she motioned toward the large Cybertronian and a much smaller one that had climbed down from its shoulders. "Canopy, Sqweeks, let's go."

With thundering footsteps, Canopy lumbered after her while Sqweeks drove beside her. As they dwindled into the distance, Canopy glanced back and mouthed, _I'm sorry for that._

A faint smile touched Cade's lips, and he shouted, "No worries! Just make sure you and Sqweeks keep her safe! She can't protect herself without you two!"

The Cybertronian nodded. As they rounded a corner, Izzy yelled back, "Tell that to yourself, _legend_!" Then they were gone, and Cade could not see them anymore.

"That's one hell of a girl you've adopted, Cade," commented Hound as they all stared in the direction Izzy and her companions had disappeared.

"I had no choice, did I? I just could not leave them behind, not when they have the TRF right on their asses." With one last look to where the girl had gone, Cade turned around and began picking his way between the debris and rubble that dotted the streets, Hound and Bee following closely on foot. It was difficult, not only for him but the bots as well; ever since the last battle in Chicago, the government had decided to just leave the city as it was rather than rebuild it for the second time. The money involved was worth hundreds of billions, and they did not have sufficient funds anymore even with megacorporations like KSI helping them.

Needless to say, Joshua Joyce was not happy when his tower was wrecked by a missile. Even now, the ruins of his company headquarters stood in the distance like a monument; a reminder that humanity had once tried to replace their heroes, only to get kicked in the ass so hard that they never tried to again and had instead focused on providing countermeasures rather than replicating Cybertronian technology.

Cade snorted. Floating aircraft carriers were one thing, but creating something that would rival the Transformers was next to impossible. He had been with them long enough to know that; although he could fix and repair their bodies and equipment with Earth technology, their overall composition was beyond anything they could find here on the planet. Bumblebee's plasma cannon, for example, while they could get ammunition for it if they raided a nuclear plant or military base, if it got damaged in any way then that's the end of it. The scout would never be able to use it, much less fire a shot.

Finally they stopped in the middle of an intersection. On either side the roads were wide enough and cleared of debris for several cars to drive through. Up ahead, another ran straight before taking a sharp turn to the left and disappearing from view. This one was blocked by a lot of rubble, and only a human could pass through with some difficulty caused by the obstacles impeding the path. Here and there were abandoned cars, most of them crumpled and wrecked as if a heavy object had fallen on them.

Cade glanced around. There was no sign of electronic stores or companies, which disappointed him. That would mean he either had to loop around and find another route, or proceed ahead without the Autobots following him. Neither of the two was a good option, but he had to make a decision soon; any moment now and a TRF walker might pass by.

"I'm guessing that you're going to tell us to wait here until you get back," said Hound as he surveyed the area.

Cade nodded. "Yes." There should be a cluster of shops just beyond the street, 400 meters away from their position. The business district of Chicago was so large that he could spend a day walking around the area and still not be able to visit all of them. It was there that spare parts and equipments could mostly be salvaged, and it was there that he had to go.

"We'll scout the area around here while you go ahead, then," the Autobot grunted. "Just give us a holler on the radio if you need help. Bee, let's go." With that he transformed into a Mercedez-Benz Unimog truck and went to the left. Bumblebee saluted to Cade then shifted to his vehicle form and drove in the other direction kicking up clouds of dust, leaving Cade standing in the middle of a ruined city.

He was silent for a moment as he watched them gradually disappear from sight. Then readjusting the straps of his pack and shifting its position higher onto his right shoulder, Cade began the long walk.

* * *

An hour later, he found himself raiding an abandoned car dealer and repair shop. Most of the shops he had went into had nothing of value except for some odd junk, which he took anyway, and he had wandered around looking for an establishment that was not yet looted until he reached the more developed sector of the city. It was here where he found the shop, and although there were other prominent establishments in the vicinity, it was the only one which he had found to be still stocked; it did not looked too ransacked by scavengers, at least.

Cade entered through the broken glass doors, careful not to step into any shards of glass. His boots clicked on the cracked tiled floor as he looked around, noting the state of disrepair. The walls were stained with oil, and tools lay scattered everywhere. The counter was split in half, and parts of the ceiling had collapsed, exposing dead wires inside. A rat skittered along one of shaft of the ventilation system, and thick cobwebs hung on corners.

There was only one car on display with shattered windows and dusts blanketing it entirely. Wiping some of the dusts away, Cade uncovered its surface and noticed how the red paint was already faded and dull. Looking inside, the seats and other components had been removed while the floor was littered with splinters of glass. It was definitely cannibalized, and as he checked under the hood, even the engine was missing.

Shaking his head, Cade began exploring the one-story building. He opened several offices and conference room, but found nothing of worth. In one room, there was an old computer sitting on the desk. It seemed to be still functioning, and though there was no electricity to turn it on, he took the monitor and CPU. It might come in handy someday if their current one broke down. After stuffing it inside the sack he brought, he left the room and continued scouring the floor.

When he reached the large storage room, he found the door locked. There was no keys to be seen nor any windows which he could break to get inside, so he pulled out a crowbar from his pack and smashed the doorknob. After a few tries it finally broke, and he kicked the door open. Inside he found racks containing boxes of oil canisters still sealed and in pristine condition. On one side was a shefl filled with car batteries, and beside that were boxes overflowing with nuts, bolts, and gears. A small trolley sat in the corner, and next to that was a wall with numerous hooks from which plenty of tools hung.

He took every thing that looked useful, which soon filled his sack. His workshop was missing a few tools, and they needed as many oil products as they could get, so he made those a top priority. The gears and bolts he mostly left untouched, but he grabbed a few batteries and placed them inside, rearranging the items to make them fit. When he could no longer lift the bulging sack, he took the trolley as well. It sagged a bit under the weight, but despite the rusting wheels, it surprsingly held.

Cade checked some of the rooms afterwards, but when he found nothing of worth, he soon left the shop and went outside. Pushing the trolley on uneven ground, he glanced in both directions straining his ears for the slightest noise. But it was as quiet as a cemetery, and when he had confirmed that the coast was clear, he continued his search.

He entered several more stores and grabbed anything they had to offer, including more car batteries and large rolls of cable wires and tubes. It really astounded him that even though Chicago had been obviously looted many times, the establishments still had enough leftover supplies. This was probably due to the TRF, and a lot of scavengers had learned not to trespass the boundary. He was one of the only few who had the courage to do otherwise.

By the time he was finished, it was already past noon. As he pushed the overladen trolley on a rough and broken street, he pulled out a radio from his belt and spoke, "Hunter to Rambo and Gold Bug, do you copy? Scavenging run is over. I'm heading back. Over." It took only a few seconds before there was a hiss of static and Hound answered.

"This is Rambo copying. We'll meet you at the rendezvouz point. Over and out."

He nodded, then replaced the radio back on his belt. Looking around one last time, Cade made his way through the devastated streets of Chicago.

Thirty minutes later, he was back to where he had parked his jeep. Izzy was already there sitting at the back and reading a comic book together with Sqweeks, looking bored as she flipped through the torn pages. A few feet to the side, Canopy squatted and rummaged through a bulging cloth sack as large as him, inspecting some of the items with interest.

Cade's eyebrows slightly rose when Canopy pulled out what looked like a sawed off tank main gun. They rose a little higher when the upper body of a TRF Sentinel jutted out as Canopy shifted the sack. They almost disappeared in his hairline when the movement caused a battered yellow Lamborghini Aventador S to tumble out and landed at the Cybertronian's feet with a loud crash.

Immediately, he doubled his speed. "IZZY!" he shouted once he was within range. The girl looked up, then jumped out of the jeep upon seeing him.

"Oh good! You're—"

"What is that?" Cade jabbed a finger in the direction of the sack. As soon as he had seen him, Canopy looked like a deer caught in headlights and he grabbed the car in haste and shove it inside, rattling the contents as he attempted to make it fit.

Izzy blinked, taken aback by his outburst. "That's our haul today," she said slowly, frowning. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"Of course there is a problem!"

She blinked again, then followed his gaze. When her eyes landed on the Lamborghini that Canopy was failing to hide, she said, "Oh? The Lamborghini? We found it lying somewhere."

"But why bring it?" he asked exasperatedly. "Izzy, have you seen our junkyard? It's literally a land of cars! We don't need have any space for one more!"

"I've seen our junkyard, yes. I've been living there for a month now, remember?" she rolled her eyes at him. "But you know what? I've never ever seen a modern sports car in there. All we got are broken jeeps, trucks, and many, many rusty 90's cars. I've yet to see something new."

"It's a junkyard," he snapped. "Every thing in there is old, even those who live and run it."

"Except for me," she pointed out with a smirk.

"Except for you, which is one more reason why you need to listen." Cade glared at her. Surprisingly, she did not flinch this time and returned it even. "Now you will leave that car or else I—"

"I can fix it," she said, which made him stop. "Look, we need money, right? And I'm telling you that we can get loads of it if we can make this car look as good as a new one. I mean, it's not really that hard," she shrugged. "The chassis is still okay, and the inside is mostly untouched. We just need to replace some of the seats and install new windows. As for the components and engine…" There was a pause, then her eyes brightened and she grinned. "Most have been removed, but if we take some from other cars, we can put it here. After that, we just repaint it, replace the tires, and there we have it! A brand new Lamborghini Aventador S worth millions of dollars!"

Cade was silent for a moment as he stared at Izzy with suspicion. Her refurbishing plan sounded solid, he had to admit, but there was something in the way she said it that seemed off. When she laid out her plan, he detected a slight hint of nervousness in her voice, as if she was hiding something from him.

"And which car engine are you going to use? This is a Lamborghini, Izzy. Not some 90's Camaro. Plus, suppose that we could do it," he crossed his arms, "how are you going to sell a Lamborghini? You're just fourteen, a minor, and I'm a fugitive. Even if we manage to find a buyer, they will ask questions. And before you realize it, we'll have the TRF chasing our asses. I don't want that to happen, Izzy. And I'm sure neither do you."

"It won't happen," she said firmly. "Trust me, okay? I'll find the spare parts, then we can have Jimmy sell it for us and—"

Cade scowled. "No. Jimmy won't sell anything for us because if he does, he'll defintely take the money."

"Then why did you even hired him?" she grumbled. He understood her irritation; his assistant never did anything resembling productivity except to complain and rant about his job, which always earned him insults and mockery from the Autobots. Hell, Jimmy did not even knew how to make a good coffee, much less run a scrapyard. The only reason he hired him was for someone to watch over Izzy and anyone else who would be left at base whenever he and the Autobots did rescue missions, but even such a simply task was beyond him. Only then did he realized why nobody was accepting him.

"I had no choice," he muttered.

"Right. If not Jimmy, then Daytrader can—"

He quickly shot down her idea. "Absolutely not! Do you know what will happen? If Jimmy would take the money, Daytrader would take the whole car and we would never see it anymore. No money. No Lamborghini. No nothing."

She grimaced, and Cade could almost see gears spinning inside her head very fast as she thought of another suggestion. "Fine. Then how about the Chief? We could have Brains sell it online on a secured IP address, and have the Chief act as our dummy. That way, we don't have to show ourselves to the buyer. Of course, the Chief would get a percentage as commission."

Cade frowned. He could see it working, and what misgivings he had before vanished once he realized that she had a point. Besides, he would not deny that he really needed the money; though Joshua had agreed to pay Tessa's tuition fees all throughout her entire school year, he still did not trust the man. He wanted to leave something for his daughter in the event that he did not make it alive during the next couple of years, and not have her rely on someone who could possibly betray them when worse comes to worst. Not to mention Izzy. He could not just let her go back to being a wanderer without any money to spend.

"Alright. We'll give your plan a try, little J Lo." She crowed immediately and faced Sqweeks and Canopy with a victoruous grin. Cade managed a faint smile. She briefly reminded him of Tessa when she was still a kid and he had allowed her to play outside. Her daughter had worn the same smile, that same expression of triumph.

In the distance, he caught sight of Bumblebee and Hound returning from their patrol. After glancing at his watch, his voice turned serious once more and he said, "Just remember, Izzy. If this doesn't work, we'll scrap the car and let Stripes use it as a chew toy. Clear?"

"Clear as crystal." Izzy gave him a mock salute. "But that won't happen. I will fix that car. You just wait and see." She said it with so much confidence that he almost wanted to believe. Almost.

"Right. Well, get back to your seat. We're leaving." With that he lifted the sack from the trolley and placed it at the back of his jeep next to Sqweeks. Izzy climbed onto the passenger seat and waited until Cade had Canopy take the trolley. The Cybertronian then slung his large pack over his shoulder and transformed back to his vehicle mode, his bed overflowing with junk and a Lamborghini Aventador S sticking out of the sack like a sore thumb.

When everything was finished, Cade finally sat on the driver's seat. He glanced around one last time, glad that things had gone well, then turned on the engines. The jeep roared to life and very soon they were driving out of the streets of Chicago, a trio of Autobots following closely and escorting them as if they were the most important people in the world.

* * *

 **I did say that this fic won't be a total rehash of the movie, and this chapter is a proof of that.**

 **About the changes I made, yes, in here Izzy has been adopted by Cade before the story started. A month, if you read it. To be honest, I decided to go for this route because I think it would add a lot more depth to her character. The one we had in TLK was interesting, but I felt like there should have been more to her than what we've been shown. So here in this story, I'm planning to expand her role and add more character development. Hopefully, I would get it right.**

 **Regarding Canopy. Yes, he's alive here. But not for long. XD Anyway, I decided to tweak his character a bit. You see, I've always wondered why he did not have any alt mode at all. Sure, disguising as a rubble was logical in a sense. But what bothered was one simple question: what would happen if using a camouflage is no longer a good idea? He needed to run sooner or later, and from what we saw in the movie, Canopy's tactic ultimately led to his death. Hence, why I gave him a dump truck vehicle mode. Furthermore, he did not have any weapons at all in the movie. Like, zero at all. And that really bothered the hell out of me. So I thought, why not give him a backstory where he was _not_ much of a fighter at all, but a mere refugee who has little experience in combat. After all, not all Autobots are soldiers. Hell, not all Cybertronians had chosen a faction at all.**

 **Anyway, there you have it. This will probably the last chapter for this month and the next as I will soon return to writing my novel beginning next week. If all goes well on my schedule, I could probably finish the first draft by October, from which I will take a rest and tackle this fic again. Rest assured though, I will still be updating once a month after this chapter.**

 **Please Read & Review! Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

The hot and dry air of South Dakota blew past Cade as he drove along one of its main highways. There was no one else on the road except for their convoy, and as the mountains and empty plains passed by on each side, he began to relax his grip on the steering wheel.

It had been a little over a day since their scavenging run in the ruins of Chicago. They had to hide most of the time,traveling at night and avoiding densely populated areas with Energon detectors, so it had taken them longer than expected to return home. But despite this, their traveling time was much faster compared to when Optimus had left; just a few months after the Battle of Hong Kong and the subsequent formation of the TRF, they could not go from one city to another without passing a lot of patrols, and it was made even worse when the government started to field the Sentinels. Fortunately, they quickly learned which routes to take and avoid. And now they could travel with relative ease.

Soon they reach the Badlands and head deeper into the heart of the state. It was past noon when they finally drove along the road that led to Sioux land. Up ahead, Cade sighted a trailer parked on the side and someone sitting on a brown horse.

With a smile, he pulled up beside the man. "Good afternoon, Chief!" he greeted cheerfully. Beside him, Izzy began to stir awake.

"Cade," the Chief said. He wore sunglasses, a cowboy hat, and a sheriff's uniform. In truth, his real name was Sherman. But Cade liked to call him Chief partly because he was the chief of the Sioux in these part of the state. The other reason was because Sherman did not like it when people call him that, and Cade just loved to piss him off. "Don't call me Chief. My name is Sherman."

"Yeah, but aren't you the tribal chief?" He eyed the horse intently. It was a sprinter, bred for running and chasing. "Nice horse you got there. How old is he?" he reached out to rub its head, but had to pull back with a yelp when it tried to bite him. "Woah!"

"Don't. He doesn't like to be touched by anyone except me." Sherman caressed the neck gently. "His name's Chaser. A year old. I got him last month." He frowned. "You know something about horses?"

"A bit," Cade nodded. "My grandparents owned a farm before, and I used to helped them clean our horses when I was still a kid." He shrugged. "Dad sold them after they died."

"And then you became an inventor whose inventions sucks that you can't pay your daughter's college tuition," Izzy muttered beside him.

Cade ignored her. "So why are you using a horse? Where's your cruiser?" He looked around hoping to see it. Sherman was rarely seen without his cruiser, and sometimes he hire Cade to check on it for maintenance. It was part of the deal they had made in exchange of receiving sanctuary for the Autobots.

"My cruiser got broken. Again," Sherman said tightly. He jerked a thumb behind him and Cade gasped.

"Oh gosh, what happened to it?"

Ruined could not describe the state of the car. It looked more like a herd of buffaloes had crashed into the vehicle and made it their toy. The windshields and sirens were shattered, and the hood was crushed. The doors were heavily dented as if something had rammed into it, with deep gashes like claws. But the worst were the tires; they were riddled with punctures which Cade soon realized were bite marks.

Cade had a feeling who did this, but he feigned ignorance and shook his head. "Wow! That's terrible, Chief! Who would do that to your cruiser?" he frowned. "You sure there's no psychopath on the loose?"

"It's not a person, Cade," Sherman sighed.

"Oh! Then it's probably a deer or a bear!" Cade waved a finger and said animatedly, "You know, you should be careful, Chief. There are wild animals roaming around and no one is safe. Just yesterday, I saw this big lion prowling in the—"

"There are no deers or bears in South Dakota, Cade. Or even lions."

"…oh."

"Cut the shit, will you?" Sherman took off his sunglasses and fixed him with a glare. "I know that you know who did this."

The voice died in Cade's throat. He deflated and sighed. "I'll remind them not to bother you again. I'll also fix the car for you as usual."

"Free of charge?"

"Free of charge," Cade nodded.

Sherman grunted in satisfaction. "Good." He put on his sunglasses and glanced toward Izzy. "Hello, Izzy."

The girl waved and smiled. "Hi, Chief."

"I hope your employer is not making you work too much," he briefly returned his gaze to Cade before sweeping his eyes over their convoy. "Your haul?" he asked upon seeing Canopy's filled sack.

"Yup. Got it yesterday. We could even use some of the spare parts we got to fix your car. What do you say, Chief?"

"As long as it's free of charge," he grunted again. "Well, you better be off now. I'm going to return to my patrol soon. Cade," Sherman glared at the inventor one last time, "don't forget about our deal."

Cade nodded. "You know I don't forget about deals, Chief. Ever."

"After your age doubled, you will," he snorted before waving a hand dismissively. Taking it as a sign to leave, Cade said, "Right. See you next time, Chief!", before driving ahead.

* * *

The fiasco with Cemetery Wind and the Battle of Hong Kong left Cade and his daughter without a house, but with an extended family of alien robots. Unfortunately, despite Joshua's promise to help them, even he could not convince the US government from harassing them, and ultimately, hunting them down once more.

At first, things had gone well. Tessa was enrolled to college with the promise that her tuition would be fully paid by Joshua, and the tycoon had lent them a house. For several months they lived a comfortable life while keeping the Autobots out of public attention, and though liaisons kept pestering them, they were at peace. But that changed when the TRF was formed and all Transformers were declared illegal.

It was only a matter of time, so Cade made a quick decision. During the middle of the night a few hours after the UN made the announcement, he packed a few belongings, bade farewell to Tessa, and left the house with the team. A good thing too, because the morning after, he learned from Tessa that a TRF team visited the house just an hour after they had left.

To his relief, the newly commissioned global response unit was not anything like Cemetery Wind, and they soon left after asking a few questions. Still, Tessa had been in a state of shock after she remembered the incident with Savoy. Fortunately, Shane was there to comfort her, and Cade breathed a sigh of relief when the racer told him that Tessa was fine. Despite that, however, he still did not trust Shane, and he reminded him that should anything happen to Tessa, he would track him down and cut off his balls to feed them to him.

Since then, Shane always called him every morning to report on Tessa's activities.

Their life had been hard after that. Constantly moving around and avoiding densely popuated cities, hiding in secluded areas. Cade worked part-time jobs in every town they passed, but they never stayed in one place for more than a week. He had been branded a fugitive just three days after he had left, and his wanted posters were posted everywhere. Most of the time, he had to rely on fake identities and disguises just to walk in the streets. Even Shane and Tessa's calls stopped, fearful of who may be listening. In the end, he and the Autobots fled from place to place.

It stayed like that for more than a year until they reached South Dakota and met Sherman.

The meeting was an accident. Cade was eating at a diner on a secluded town when he bumped into him at the toilet. He tried to keep his face hidden, but Sherman had a quick eye and sharp memory; the man recognized him immediately.

At first, Cade had planned on punching the guy and running away. But he quickly discarded that idea when Sherman offered him and the Autobots something they badly needed: sanctuary. He was initially suspicious. However, his suspicion vanished when the Chief told him that they were prepared to give them a place to live under the condition that they would not cause any trouble and if the situation called for it, they would help in any way they could.

Cade did not have difficulty in convincing the Autobots to accept. They were all tired from running away, and the prospect of settling down and living in relative peace was tempting. Thus, they accepted the offer without hesitation, and they were finally given a place they could call home for the time being.

Which turned out to be an abandoned junkyard.

Cade drove inside the entrance and along the single dirt path, slowly picking his way toward a collection of buildings up ahead. On either side were rows of dust covered, old, broken cars. The models varied from ancient Volkswagen Beetles to 90s Dodge Challengers, and there were even World War II Jeeps and trucks. Their chassis were all rusty, and most of the components were stripped away. But it provided them with a little assurance; no one would suspect that a group of highly advance alien robots was using a junkyard as their hideout.

The scent of oil invaded his nostrils as he got near the center. Almost immediately, a man's scream followed by a lot of cursing drew his attention. Cade parked on an empty spot between two cars just as his assistant, Jimmy, came into view running.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Jimmy chanted while charging toward a nearby truck with missing wheels. Behind him came two of the many residents inhabiting the junkyard.

The first one was a silver robotic tiger with black stripes on the back, sprinting nimbly on the hard ground. It was small, barely reaching Cade's neck even when standing, but it was more fiercer than the animal it resembled. Large fangs jutted out of its upper jaw, and its paws ended in razor-sharp claws. Techno-organic hairs covered the entire length of its body. It chased Jimmy with a snarl, its red eyes gleaming with hunger.

Beside it lumbered a miniature robotic rhino of a dull red color, bellowing in rage. It was slightly taller and heavier than its companion, and its strength was obvious; the ground shook at its footsteps, rattling the cars around it when it passed. The rhino rammed every object that stood in its path as it followed its companion.

Meanwhile, their target had already reached safety and scrambled up the roof of the truck, his face set in panic and terror. "CADE, HELP ME OVER HERE!" he screamed.

The inventor sighed and climbed out of his jeep, briefly noticing Hound and Bumblebee transforming. Behind him, he heard Izzy snicker at the sight of Jimmy frantically waving away his pursuers.

"I swear, Cade, that assistant of yours is useless," Hound shook his head.

Cade grunted, but said nothing and started to approach the commotion. "Jimmy, didn't I tell you to keep them on the leash?" he raised his voice to be heard over the man's screams.

"HOW CAN YOU KEEP ROBOT ANIMALS ON THE LEASH?" he looked at him with exasperation. His dark skin had a slight gleam from the sunlight due to the sheet of sweat coating him, the effects of exerting effort to escape the fangs and horns of his pursuers. A young man in his late twenties, Cade hired him to, supposedly, watch over the junkyard whenever he was away. But it seemed that it was Jimmy who required a caretaker himself.

"The way I told you. What happened here, anyway?" Cade asked, standing a twenty feet behind the tiger and rhino and craning his head up toward Jimmy. "We've only been gone for a day, and now I find this place out of order."

"You're really asking me?" asked Jimmy incredulously. "Cade, whenever you leave it becomes the animal kingdom here. Do you know that this one," he jabbed a finger toward the tiger, "tried to eat me last night? While this one," he pointed at the rhino, "almost killed me with that big ass horn of his!"

"That's not my problem anymore, Jimmy. I left you instructions. You should have followed them." Cade crossed his arms and scowled.

"That's what I did! But they only got me into this mess!" Jimmy yelped when the rhino rammed the side of the truck and almost threw him off balance. "You said I'm going to be senior vice-president of a corporation! You never told me that I'm going to be the caretaker of an alien hideout!"

"Yeah? Well, I lied." Cade then clapped his hands. "Stripes, Ramhorn, that's enough!"

Slowly, the tiger and rhino turned, regarding him curiously with bright blue eyes.

Sighing, Cade approached the two and placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head. He had rescued the two after they had crashed in Chicago a year ago. And though they were a lot of help in guarding the junkyard, there were times when they brought more harm than good.

"What did I tell you about trying to eat people and cars?" he asked sternly. "Look, just because you're growing doesn't mean you have to run wild, okay? Stripes, I told you not to use the Chief's cruiser as your chew toy. We have lots of cars here that you could use. And you, Ramhorn. Don't go ramming into objects without permission, okay? They are not toys, and you know that."

For a moment, there was no response. Cade felt like he was scolding children. Technically, he was; by Cybertronian standards, Stripes and Ramhorn were still kids. However, their intelligent was just equivalent to normal Earth animals, with the exception of being able to understand speech and use weapons.

Finally, Stripes and Ramhorn lowered their heads and whimpered, a sign that they understood and already regretted their actions. Smiling, Cade patted them on their cheeks. "Good. I don't want this to happen again, okay? Now run along back to the others."

With a purr, Stripes nuzzled his hand then leapt away, followed closely by Ramhorn. Cade watched them for a moment until they leapt after Hound and Bumblebee, greeting them with excited growls and snorts.

"See?" Cade turned to Jimmy, who was now climbing down from the truck. "That's how you do it."

"They respect you, that's why," Jimmy grumbled. "But not me."

"That's because you're not doing anything to earn their respect." Cade waved him over as he strode back to his jeep. "Now stop complaining and help me with our haul."

...

When they returned to where the others were, Cade saw Izzy talking with one of their newest members.

"Sunstreaker!" he called.

When they first met the Autobot, he was in a rage. After touching down in Illinois and discovering that his twin, Sideswipe, was brutally murdered by Cemetery Wind, he went on a rampage that lasted three days and left a quarter of the city in ruins. He had been fortunate back then; the TRF was not fielding Sentinels yet, and they were not as widespread and numerous. It took Sunstreaker wiping out an entire TRF unit alone for the military to intervene. Luckily, Cade and the Autobots rescued him before they could kill him.

The mech snapped his head toward him, his face set in alarm. His yellow, almost golden, paint scheme gleamed in the sunlight, and Cade had to partly shield his eyes as Sunstreaker faced him. "Oh, um, welcome back, Cade," the Autobot said nervously.

Cade frowned. "Jimmy, get that sack from my jeep and start unloading. I'm gonna see what's up with At the edge of his vision, he noticed Izzy casually edging away from them.

"Is there a problem?" asked Cade as he stood staring up at Sunstreaker.

"Problem? No, no. There's no problem!" he chuckled. "There's no problem. Right, Izzy?"

"Yup! No problem!" the girl said, looking at anything but Cade.

The inventor narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "If you two are hiding something from me, you better say now before I—"

At that moment, Canopy strode toward them hefting the broken Lamborghini in his shoulders and asked, "Hey, Sunny! What kind of paint job do you want for this Lamborghini?"

The silence that followed was enough to let them all hear the approach of an Orbital Assault Carrier they managed to salvage during one of their scavenging runs.

"Uh, did I said something wrong?" Canopy blinked in confusion, glancing back and forth between the three of them.

Groaning, Cade gave Izzy a heated glare. He knew it the moment Izzy spoke to him about fixing the car. She was not only concerned about the money. "You got some explaining to do, young lady." He transferred his glare to Sunstreaker. "Actually, both of you."

The two exchange glances. Then with a sigh, Izzy finally gave in and said, "Fine. I haven't told you everything."

"No, you didn't," snapped Cade.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? We're sorry. But Sunny needs a new alt mode and—"

"What do you mean Sunstreaker needs a new alt mode?" Cade stared at her incredulously. He glanced up at the Autobot. "Sunny, your alt mode is still good. What do you need a new one for?"

Sunstreaker looked down at his body. His frame resembled that of his twin, including the wheels which acted as his feet and the doors on his back. The only difference was the vehicle he had scanned: a Lamborghini Huracan. "Yeah, but... I want a new one."

"What for?" demanded Cade.

"Because this one's old, Cade," Sunsttreaker complained and slowly spun around. "I mean, this model is a decade old. This is almost ancient. I want a new model for a change."

"A new model will not help you fight better," Cade said in exasperation.

"Well, yes, that is true. But at least I'd look cooler!" Sunstreaker grinned.

"Oh God." Cade groaned and palmed his face. Sunstreaker's race was being hunted down and he was still talking about looking cool? Cade was no longer sure which was worse: Hound's addiction to blowing up everything he sees, or Sunstreaker's over-bloated ego.

"Cade, it's not that bad. I'm still going to fix that car and sell it," said Izzy.

"Yeah, but you never told me that your main reason was giving Sunstreaker a new car to scan." Sighing, he removed his right hand from his face.

"Sorry," Izzy smiled sheepishly. "We both knew you won't agree with the idea. That's why we did not tell you."

"You could have simply scanned a car in the cities," Cade grumbled. "That would be easier."

"But where's the fun in that?" asked Izzy. "Besides, we still need money."

"Izzy is right, Cade. It's not just about me," Sunstreaker added. "We could barely get by from what we are earning."

Cade drew a long breath. He understood their point, and he was also looking forward to earning millions when they finally sell the sports car. But the fact that they had kept secrets, even something as trivial as this, irked him. How could he trust them on more important matters? And yet, he could not blame them either. If he learned of their plan earlier, he doubt if he would agree.

He glanced at Canopy, hoping that the Autobot refugee could help him. But he was looking away with a guilty expression.

"So you knew about this too," Cade muttered. To Izzy and Sunstreaker, he said, "Fine. I'll let this pass. But I don't want anymore secrets next time," he glowered.

"Yes, sir!" They both chorused and saluted.

Cade grunted then walked away without a word. Passing Jimmy, he said, "I'll go check the others. Once you have unloaded everything, take them to the workshop then clean the jeep."

He did not wait for his assistant's response. Instead, he strode toward a collection of buildings in the middle of the junkyard. Along the way, he saw an Orbital Assault Carrier landing on a small clearing to his right. The cockpit slid open and Crosshairs jumped out.

"Crosshairs!" he waved. "How's your patrol?"

Ever since they had acquired the gunship, it was decided that they would do a routine patrol of the surrounding lands. Though the Sioux had granted them safe haven, they did not want to take any chances. Who knows when the TRF, or even the Decepticons, might attack?

"Boring as usual," Crosshairs rolled his eyes. "There's nothing but rocks and flat lands. I'm getting bored of this life, Cade. And this stupid planet."

"Well, it's this or get chased by bullets and missiles." He walked past him, heading to a tall building situated at the edge of the large clearing. Machineries hummed inside, and there was a chugging noise coming from within like a generator. Stepping through the large entrance, Cade entered and looked around.

Industrial lights illuminated the spacious room. Right in the center was an extractor converter they had built to get a steady supply of Energon. Based on notes left behind by the Autobot scientist, Que, the machine in the center lets them convert any form of fuel into Energon. The machine looked like a gigantic generator, producing a loud chugging noise much like one. Numerous gauges and buttons dotted its dashboard, while various tubes connected it to twelve feet long empty tanks on the right where the converted Energon would be extracted. To the left were drums containing gas, and next to them were empty canisters waiting to be refilled.

An Autobot stood monitoring the process, occasionally checking a worn out datapad in his right hand. He was as tall as Hound but less bulkier, and he had a cheerful aura around him. When he moved, the light reflected off his black armor.

Upon hearing Cade's footsteps, the Autobot turned. "Cade! I didn't know you're already here. Welcome back!"

The inventor smiled up at him. "How's our production, Trailbreaker?"

Trailbreaker shrugged and glanced at the tanks. Ten in total, only three of them were filled. "As good as it can be, I guess. Synthetic Energon is hard to produce, unlike the pure ones. You know that. But don't worry. We are making enough. We won't run out anytime soon." He squinted hard at him. "You look harassed, Cade? Did something happened?"

Cade's expression soured. "Yeah. Sunstreaker wanted a new alt mode. Again," he grumbled.

Trailbreaker burst out laughing. "Oh well, you know him. He's only concerned about three things: fighting, racing, and looking cool while doing both." He chuckled. "Back in Cybertron, he and Sideswipe would always end up in a lot of trouble because of their attitudes."

"Yeah. I heard some of the stories," he said before yawning.

"Why don't you take a rest?" suggested Trailbreaker. "The trip must have exhausted you."

Cade grimaced. That was true. While their drive back home was uneventful, the same could not be said during the journey to Chicago. They left on Monday when traffic was at its worst, and combined with the numerous patrols clogging the highways, they took three days to reach their destination. It had taxed Cade's mind and body, and now he was feeling the effects.

"I'll do that," he sighed. "By the way, where are the others?"

"Well, let's see. Drift is in his spot, meditating as usual," Trailbreaker said, ticking off names in his fingers. "Longarm is fixing your workshop. Wheelie and Brains are in there as well to help him. And Nightstalker is sleeping somewhere."

"I see," Cade nodded. "Well, I'm going now."

"See you later, Cade."

The inventor waved, then left the building.

* * *

The trailer was located on the east side of the clearing, near a cluster of Dodge Challengers and Ford Sedans. An old mobile home, Cade had acquired it from the Chief when he and the Autobots settled here. It was a bit rundown and decaying when he received it, but with a little refurbishing and overhaul, the trailer looked as good as new. Since then, it had been his house for the last two years.

Upon entering, he immediately switched on the fan and plopped down on one of the two leather sofas that dominated the living area, savoring the cool air. The trailer was small, but he had arranged the furnitures to take up as little space as possible. Not that there were many, anyway. Aside from the sofas, there were only a couch where he sleeps, a couple of side tables, a TV, and a tiny kitchen. The remaining space was reserved for boxes of supplies and odd wares he had collected.

He leaned on his seat then grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, browsing through the various news channels. It had become his habit to check on them after arriving from a scavenging run or rescue mission for any news regarding the TRF or more Transformer sightings. But to his disappointment, there was nothing about them in all the channels.

"… _Japan is taken by storm as the newest AR device, the Augma, is released today…"_

"… _Seismic activity in the Mariana Trench has increased for the last six months. Experts say that this phenomenon is quite normal…"_

" _Valdez Corporation won the bidding war against Kinetics Solution Inc. for the production of a prototype submersible that can go up to 300 knots and reach a depth of 100,000 feet below the ocean…"_

Cade switched to several more channels. But when nothing interested him, he turned off the TV and frowned. The lack of news regarding Transformers bothered him, especially about new arrivals. The last one was six months ago at California, but it was a Decepticon who immediately vanished off the radar. There had been no Autobots for the past year. He was starting to feel anxious.

A huge part of it was because they had not heard from Optimus anymore since he left, and they were hoping that whenever a Transformer arrives from space, it was him returning to lead the Autobots once more. But he never came back, nor did he send a message. He just vanished.

Shaking his head, Cade stood up and went to the kitchen to prepare some snacks. The fridge was almost half-empty, but there was still enough ingredients to make several burritos. Tomorrow morning, he would have to restock on groceries.

He returned to his sofa ten minutes later with an overflowing plate in his hands. Izzy was already there, watching TV. Wordlessly, he offered her a burrito which she took without hesitation, and he sat down on his seat as he took the first bite.

"When are you going to start working on the car?" asked Cade between mouthfuls.

"Tomorrow morning," answered Izzy, chewing on her food. She glanced toward him. "And you are going to help me."

Cade snorted. "Of course. I would not want you to blow up the workshop."

"As if, Cade." Izzy rolled her eyes at him. "Only Hound do that."

The inventor said nothing, though he managed a faint smile. Izzy's attitude was irritating at times, but she was a good girl and also talented. Her resourcefulness allowed her to survive on her own in a war torn city for eight years, which only a few kids her age could do. It was one of the reasons why he took her and her companions in after seeing them get chased by several TRF Sentinels.

He looked at the wall to his right where pictures of Tessa were pinned on a cardboard. He missed her daughter so much. The last time they had talked was months ago, and only for a couple of minutes. He did not dare call her frequently in the event that the TRF was listening, but he wished he could see her.

"Why don't you call her?" Izzy asked softly, placing her empty plate on a table beside her.

Sighing, Cade shook his head. "I can't. You know how TRF is monitoring every phone calls. Even with Hound redirecting our signal, I don't want to risk it." He paused suddenly, thinking. Maybe he was being too paranoid. Four months had already passed since he called Tessa, and nothing went wrong. TRF never came to their hideout.

"On second thought, I think I will," Cade decided. "She's probably missing me just as much."

"She is," said Izzy, briefly lowering her gaze to the floor. "I know that feeling. But she is lucky, you know? Because you're still here." She looked up at him and smiled. "So make sure you will survive, Cade."

"I don't plan on dying yet, kid," he chuckled, then returned to his meal. He had not even finished his first burrito when the radio he always kept crackled to life.

Cade and Izzy immediately froze and exchanged glances, alert. The radio was their only communication link with the Chief, but it was only when unwanted visitors were fast approaching. And they never had the misfortune to encounter that situation.

Until now.

" _Sierra to Sanctuary,_ " Sherman's voice sounded urgent, " _we have company. Code Orange. Three unidentified SUVs are heading your way._ "

* * *

 **I'm posting this a day before my birthday, so I consider this as a gift to myself. XD**

 **Not much happening in this chapter except for character interactions, I know. But I felt like it was needed to establish their relationships with each other. Now I just want to discuss the various elements you may have noticed.**

 **First of all, the Autobot rosters. :D Yes, you've read it right. These are very familiar faces, especially Trailbreaker, who was not included in the previous versions. In the case of Sunny, he was in my prequel fic,** _Transformers 4: The Untold Stories_ **, but was killed. Here I changed what happened and kept him alive. So obviously, that fic is now non-canon.**

 **Second, the removal of Grimlock and the Dinobots and the inclusion of Stripes,** **Ramhorn, and Nightstalker. Now for those who have watched G1 and read the comics, you may find them familiar. Yes, they are the Autobot mini-cassettes. But since I have not included Blaster here, they are an independent group. I decided to add them here as replacement for the Dinobots, who will still APPEAR in this fic, and merge them with the idea of those mini-dinobots.**

 **Seriously, not only they did not made any sense in the movie, their inclusion did not add anything to the plot. AT ALL.**

 **Third, and what may be the most interesting part, the references I added in varying degrees of subtlety. One is already obvious if you have watched the series and movie, while the other two may require some brainstorming and reading a future crossover fic I have been planning since last year.**

 **Now to clarify one thing: _nothing is certain yet._ I may have referenced them, but I'm still not sure if they will fit in this universe I'm building. Call it an experiment, if you will. One thing I'm sure, though. They won't be the only ones. :D**

 **By the way, on a completely unrelated topic, the first draft of my original novel is now complete. However, once I have received feedback from my beta readers, I will start the second one. Until then, this fic will be my focus. :)**

 **Well, that's it. If there are discrepancies regarding geographical locations and whatnot, I apologize. I researched as much as I could, but I don't think I got everything perfectly. So please feel free to correct me.**

 **Remember to Read & Review!**

 **Until next time!**


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